As accusations surfaced Thursday that he bullied a top city official Warren Mayor James Fouts questioned the timing while defending his conduct.

Warren Treasurer Carolyn Kurkowski Moceri charged Thursday that Fouts caused her to fear for her safety during a “nose to nose” shouting match, prompting her to formally request he attend anger-management counseling.

In a letter to the city’s top personnel official, Moceri stated a meeting with Fouts and one of his top administrators last week became a frightening encounter. She said Fouts blasted her for comments she made last May to a Macomb Daily reporter in response to a vulgar remark he made about her during one of two phone conversations with a former city administrator who secretly recorded the calls.

“Mayor Fouts became so enraged and out of control that he lunged across the conference table at me, and I feared for my safety,” Moceri wrote in a letter to Human Resources Director Phil Easter. “I thought he was going to strike me.”

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Moceri confirmed by telephone Thursday afternoon she has requested Fouts be referred to the city’s employee assistance program.

“The reason I’m doing this is, he has turned into a bully and somebody has got to say it. Someone has got to get him help. If I’m an elected official and don’t speak up, who’s going to?” she said.

“He was screaming at me in a blood curdling … just screaming at me,” Moceri said, adding Fouts quickly calmed down and apologized.

But he asserted she should have objected to the recording of the phone calls by James Hartley, Warren’s former CitiStat coordinator, she said.

Moceri, a former Fouts supporter and ally while both served on City Council, insisted her letter is not driven by politics or an attempt to smear him.

“I’m not saying anything bad about him. There’s something this man can’t get over and he needs help getting over,” she said. “This (letter) is something that took me a whole couple days to think about. This is something that needs to come out.”

The outburst, according to Moceri, occurred at the conclusion of a Feb. 21 meeting with the mayor and other city administrators to discuss her department’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year. She said Public Service Director Richard Sabaugh, the mayor’s top aide and political advisor, asked the others to leave the conference room so the mayor could talk to her. With Sabaugh present, Fouts “lunged” at her and lambasted her for her published response to his vulgar comment to Hartley over the phone she alleged.

“He likened it to men’s shower-room humor,” said Moceri, who regards that remark as dismissive. “I yelled back at him, ‘Don’t you ever bring this up again! I told you before!’” she said Thursday.

“We went nose to nose and I screamed back at him. Once I stood up and stood my ground and went toe to toe with him, he backed down,”

Moceri said Fouts apologized and calmly said, “I’m sorry, this is really getting to me” and said he will endorse her if she runs for re-election.

The treasurer feels the incident left her as a victim of workplace bullying.

Reached for comment, Fouts said he’s sorry if Moceri felt offended but denied that he bullied, threatened or lunged at her.

The second-term mayor acknowledged a “heated discussion” he believes also stemmed from difficulty in scheduling an agreeable time to review the Treasurer’s Office budget.

Fouts added he was surprised by the letter, pointing out it was filed six days after their argument.

“She protests a little too loudly. Her timing is suspicious,” he said.

Asked whether he feels he needs counseling to control anger, Fouts replied: “I don’t think I need anger-management counseling any more than Ms. Moceri does or any official in a high-pressure job.

“The bottom line is, both Ms. Moceri and I are passionate people. I bare no ill will toward her. I am willing to work with her.”

In one of the phone calls recorded by Hartley in April 2013, Fouts abruptly turned from the topic of the City Council’s questions about transfers of money to the treasurer.

“And all of a sudden, Moceri woke up. She hasn’t done s--- all, all week except roll in at 2 o’clock and hang around for three hours and (masturbate) and look at television,” the mayor said.

In a story published by The Macomb Daily last May, Moceri said her 17-year-old daughter was the first in the family to hear a television news report referring to a “lewd” remark by the mayor. Moceri said she later obtained a copy of the recording from a friend, and was stunned.

Moceri recalled she and her husband had a family meeting with their daughter and 20-year-old son and told them the specific remark.

The next day, Moceri walked from her second-floor office at Warren City Hall, down the hall to the Mayor’s Office. She had words in mind -- but abruptly changed her mind when she reached the public counter and turned around.

Fouts later phoned Moceri and asked her to come to his office, the treasurer said. She declined, and said he could come to her department.

“He said he was very wrong and inappropriate for what he said,” Moceri said. She said the mayor shook her hand “and looked me square in the eyes and apologized to me.”

In response, Fouts at the time repeatedly told the newspaper he chose words poorly during the taped conversation in a fit of anger.

He also felt Hartley violated his trusted and breached the confidentiality of private conversation.

The phone conversations were recorded by Hartley last April while he was on the phone line with Fouts. In a profanity-laced tired, Fouts angrily blamed some political headaches on two former city employees.

Hartley gave recordings of the conversations with Fouts to Michigan State Police. Detectives investigated whether the mayor may have violated any laws including malicious use of a telecommunications device. He was eventually cleared by prosecutors.

Hartley left his job in June and filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city and Fouts in July.

City council in December unanimously approved a settlement which called for Hartley to be paid $175,000. The agreement also requires Hartley to turn over any copies and transcripts of recordings he made for his attorney to be destroyed.